The Empirical Analysis of the Profession Image and the Self Image of Police Officers

One of the urgent challenges of contemporary labor psychology is studies into the image of internal affairs personnel occupation. The paper considered a theoretical aspect of psychological insight into the job image and the self-image of a policeman by the example of will-be investigative staff of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The study aimed to empirically substantiate the psychological characteristics of the police officers’ occupation and self-images. The sample comprised the trainees of Kikotya Moscow University of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs. The methods involved included the Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality designed by T. Leary; content-analysis of compositions on “I’m a policeman”; the Generalized Self-efficacy Scaly by R. Schwarzer and M. Jerusalem; the Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale by P. Hewitt adapted by A. A. Zolotaryova. The author exploited the Mann-Whitney U-test to process and statistically analyze the results obtained. The findings showed that the images of occupation and the self play a leading role in regulating conduct and vocational activities, the development of personal and professional skills of police officers. The results of the study will enhance the correlation analysis on the components of the occupation and the self-images and further design of the authorial program for the development of a positive image of both the profession and the self within the self-conception of police personnel.